love is a friendship caught on fire
by Whinnie
Summary: No one told Maka that she would experience a quarter-life crisis. No one mentioned that this crisis would involve falling for her best friend, either. (Or: in which things stay at 0 for five years and go to 100 in the span of two weeks.) Written for the SoulxMaka zine "The Music We Made Together: Five Years Later".


**notes:**

 _my first time writing fic in a couple of years (dare I say, even FIVE YEARS LATER?! harharhar), and for once it's something that doesn't make me cringe. yay me!_

 _special thanks to my beta readers: sahdah, makapedia, Sandman, and my irl friend Jordan. this fic wouldn't be here without you all making sure it made sense and, more importantly, providing the emotional support to keep me going_

 _and of course, HUGE thank you to chaoticlivi for coming up with the zine idea in the first place, and for allowing all of us to continue to contribute to the SE fandom! you can still order a digital copy of the zine or check out other contributors' works at_ **soulmakazine2018 dot tumblr dot com** _._

 _finally, thank YOU for clicking in and reading! if you find that anything in this fic was relatable, please drop me a review and let me know how the struggle was real LOL. now on with the show!_

* * *

She's a goddamn grandma. Okay, Maka concedes from her sprawled out position on the couch, maybe that's not quite true – she just turned 23 and recently graduated college and found her first full-time job ever, but it's also only 6:30pm and her body's telling her to go to bed already, so logically she must secretly be 40.

There's a knock at the door of her apartment and, before she can answer, it swings open and in walks Soul Evans, her best friend and purely platonic bae one from day one of freshman year. In their Econ 101 class she had told a loud group of students to shut up while the prof was talking, and from the seat next to hers, he had fist bumped her for being the only person willing to say anything. They had been partners, practically inseparable, both in and out of class since then.

"Umm," is all he says now as he steps into the suite, toting a plastic takeout bag and taking in her current position. "You look comfy."

"Let me be," she groans, but slowly changes position so she's at the very least sitting upright. "Did you bring spicy mayo sauce?"

"Actually I didn't end up going to the store," he admits sheepishly as he sets his things down on the counter. She snorts as if expecting that answer all along. "You wanna eat now?"

This is one of their traditions – after a long day of work at both their respective jobs, they'll meet up and do something together, which sometimes includes the procurement of food but otherwise consists of nothing substantial aside from laying around indoors, browsing the internet, and/or watching a movie. Maka doesn't know exactly when or how the ritual started, but she's grateful for his company and for the fact that not much has changed between them even after graduation.

She has to admit, sometimes even the tiny space in her apartment feels a little too big for just one person.

"So," Soul says as they're settling down to eat, with their rice and side dishes neatly arranged on the table, "wanna tell me exactly what happened at work today when you said you were gonna fight someone?"

"Ugh," Maka says in return. She pauses to finish chewing the piece of karaage she'd already snuck into her mouth before continuing, "You know, the usual. Just looking at spreadsheets all day and double checking numbers and trying to meet the end-of-quarter deadline."

"Hmmm," he hums sympathetically, picking up his bowl. "But it sounds like that's just your job? After all, you are an accountant …" he drifts off, unsure of what else to say. "So what was different this time?"

"That's the thing, it's my job but I don't know if I like doing it anymore!" Maka bangs a fist on the table to make her point. The silverware clatters, as if in agreement, and she sighs. "Honestly, I feel like I don't want to do anything at work anymore. In fact–" she speeds up at this point and her voice takes on a slightly hysterical tone "–I don't know if I like being an accountant at all. I never thought I would feel this way about work when I was still in school, but it's been less than a year and it seems like I'm just doing the same thing over and over again… And I don't want to do the same thing for the next 30 years!" she wails. "Should I have studied something else? Like business, or law, or even software like you?"

Having gotten the worst out of her system, she finally slumps down and quietly wonders, "Is this what having a quarter-life crisis is like?"

"Jeez, you need to chill out," Soul sighs. Maka's eyes dart up to his face rapidly, wondering if he's finally had enough of her BS, but he just looks as weary as she feels as his arm stretches across the table to comfortingly pat her on the head. "It's okay to feel like that, you know. It's okay to not know whether you want to do the same thing for the rest of your life. And it's perfectly okay if you decide it's not. You can always go back to school again or learn more about other jobs and skills in your spare time." Firmly he adds, "It's never too late, so don't ever let anyone make you feel like it is."

"Soul..." Maka blinks, slightly touched yet also unaccustomed to hearing him speak like this. Usually their interactions consist of heckling and giving each other crap, and when it's not, she's the one who's usually comforting him. For him to react this way, he must be able to tell how much this bothers her.

He's really changed a lot in these past five years, she realizes. She wonders if she has too.

Hearing him talk of school again also makes her wonder something else: what would have happened if she hadn't gone into accounting, or if she hadn't taken Econ 101 in that semester and in that time slot. If she hadn't sat next to a lone white-haired boy on that one particular day in the first week of class.

Maka suddenly feels very sentimental, and before she can fully process her thoughts, the next thing out of her mouth is, "When we first started school five years ago, did you ever think that life would… turn out like this?" she finishes weakly, unsure of what she's trying to say.

"Huh?" Soul pauses, confused, hand in the air about to bring his food to his mouth. "Not really. I mean, that's why I switched from accounting into computer science in first year instead of going straight into it, right?" he chuckles.

"That's not what I meant," she mumbles, looking down at her bowl.

He puts his chopsticks down and swallows. "Well," he says slowly, "back then I wasn't thinking at all about what life would be like in five years. I had no idea what to expect. And honestly I still don't know what to fully expect from the future, let alone one year from today or even next month." He picks up his chopsticks again. "But I do know that what matters is whether the life we're living now is the life we want to live. And if not, what can we do to change it?"

Maka slowly nods. "You're right," she says, still taking in his words but feeling slightly renewed. "Thank you," she adds, taking a bite of her food as he smiles back at her.

 _I'm glad I get to live this life with you in it._

* * *

"I knew I shouldn't have come tonight," Soul grumbles as BlackStar gives a gratingly loud laugh and punches him right in the shoulder as a form of greeting.

"Oh please," Liz sneers at the other end of the table, "you know you would've shown up anyway."

Maka covers her mouth to try and hide her laugh at Soul's expense before taking a seat next to Tsubaki and giving the girl a hug. She knows it's true – Soul always complains (and gets called out) about having to attend their friend group's monthly-ish dinner night, but it's another tradition that they've established, a regular way for the seven of them to keep in the loop with one another amongst the chaos of their individual lives.

The group carries on multiple conversations simultaneously as the waiter comes to take their orders, and soon Maka finds herself sitting next to Liz, the latter having traded her seat temporarily to talk with more people. "So …" Liz says suggestively, waggling her eyebrows once the main pleasantries are out of the way, and Maka winces internally.

"So … ?" She responds cautiously, even though she knows what's coming next. This, too, is practically its own tradition.

"So are you seeing anyone?!" Patty finishes with a yell, appearing out of nowhere behind her sister. On Maka's other side, Tsubaki sputters, startled mid-sip.

After ensuring that Tsubaki isn't indeed dying, Maka turns back towards the two sisters. "Nope," she responds cheerfully. Not that she's actually happy to be asked about her love life – she's always felt awkward whenever the question has come up.

"Damn," Liz sighs in disappointment, bringing her own glass of water to her lips. "Tell me again why you're not?" she persists. "After all, you said you're into guys but you're not attracted to girls, right?"

"Yeah, I am." Maka hums thoughtfully, trying to think of the real reason why she's not in a relationship. "Or at least, I think so? I haven't actually thought that much about it... I guess I've just been busy with other things?" she admits sheepishly.

"But Maka," Patty points out, "you've been single for as long as we've known you! That's practically the last five years! You always said you were too busy to date because of school and volleyball and work … You never even went clubbing or got drunk with us," the younger girl whines.

Before Maka can form a response, an obnoxious voice cuts across the table. "Yeah Albarn, you better hurry it up or you're gonna officially be the Forever Alone friend," BlackStar haughtily says. "Even Single AF Soul here has been getting it on!"

The table falls rather quiet at this announcement, and Maka swears she can visibly see her best friend shrink in his chair. "What," she says flatly, half a question and half a statement to demonstrate her confusion.

"You heard me!" BlackStar looks ready to jump on the table and make a public announcement that reaches the entire restaurant, but Kid the law student looks ready to strangle him lest his own professional reputation gets ruined. Instead, BlackStar gives the proudest shit-eating grin he can and states, "Soul went on a date a few days ago with another girl!"

A beat passes before the table explodes with Liz and Patty's shrieks and rapid-fire questions – "Who is she? What's her name? Do we know her? When was this?!" – while BlackStar looks mighty pleased with the shitstorm he's caused, Tsubaki busily chides him for embarrassing Soul like that, and Kid looks like he wants to go home immediately. No one seems to notice Maka's sudden perturbed silence, not even herself. Instead, her mind is too busy racing a hundred miles an hour, thinking a little about the questions that Liz and Patty are vocalizing but mostly wondering how she hadn't known of this and why Soul hadn't told her. Weren't they best friends? Partners?

Why wasn't she happy for him? What was this unsettled feeling taking over instead?

Maka blinks, coming out of her trance suddenly, and realizes she's been looking straight at Soul this entire time. As she actually takes his appearance in, she also realizes that he's staring silently back at her but with some sort of look on his face. She thinks it might be apologetic.

She doesn't know whether that makes it better or worse.

* * *

The feeling doesn't go away.

This is despite a few days passing, and despite literally nothing else changing between them – in fact, they still see each other everyday and spend significant amounts of time with each other. Soul has even apologized for not informing her of this recent major development in his life, because apparently "Kim made me promise to not tell anyone," he'd admitted, "and the only reason BlackStar found out was because he was snooping through my phone." He doesn't offer any other information aside from that both during and after the dinner, and she hasn't bothered to ask.

Maka sighs, flopped out across her couch yet again. The more she thinks about the situation, and her less-than-positive reaction to this news, the more she's not sure how to feel.

She thinks she's definitely into boys now.

In fact, she's certain that her feelings towards her "bae one from day one" can't be considered platonic anymore.

Her phone pings with a notification, and she swipes across the screen to view, eager for a distraction. It's a message from Liz, sent to their Deathchat group. _"Clubbing at Chupa Cabra's this Friday?"_ She specifically mentions BlackStar and Patty, knowing that the others usually aren't keen on it.

Maka pauses. Why hadn't she been keen on it again? Busy with school and life? Maybe she just hadn't felt the need to go out and socialize in that way. After all, getting blackout drunk in a packed deafening space surrounded by intoxicated people doesn't sound fun at all, even if she'd never actually tried it before.

Or maybe it's because a certain someone had been secretly meeting her social needs all along.

Maka lets out a frustrated howl and rolls onto her back. She suddenly wishes she had been a little more outgoing in college. She hates how she doesn't know how to navigate this new territory, to manage these unfamiliar feelings and thoughts regarding her partner. She wonders whether things would have somehow been different, if she'd attended more parties or talked to more boys in the last five years, if only because then maybe she might've had this revelation sooner.

Her phone pings again, and this time it's a reply from BlackStar: _"let's do it UP,"_ followed shortly by, _"but only if soul the mole is in too."_

At this, Maka wonders if that's how Soul and Kim had gotten together. Yes, they had been classmates so they'd probably seen each other a lot in lectures, but Maka knew that unlike her, Soul could appreciate the occasional wild night out with friends, and a lot of students from campus frequented Chupa Cabra's. She suddenly slightly regrets never tagging along.

Out of nowhere Soul's voice pops up in her head. She remembers, clear as day, _"It's never too late, so don't ever let anyone make you feel like it is."_

She pauses as the regret slowly dissipates. Before she can stop herself, she unlocks her phone and for the first time ever, her fingers type in the following response:

 _"I'm in."_

* * *

"I've changed my mind. I'm regretting this already," Maka sighs, eyes closed and holding deathly still as Liz fusses over her eye makeup.

"No!" Patty shrieks from across the room, looking ready to toss her makeup brush at Maka's statement. "No takebacks, you already said you're coming with us and that's final!"

It's Friday evening, and the girls have convened at Liz and Patty's to get ready together. Once Maka had sent her message saying that she was coming along to the club, for the first time ever, the group had exploded for the second time in three days. It had also resulted in everyone else quickly confirming their own attendance.

As Tsubaki comes over to help her with her hair, transforming her ends into lovely little curls, Maka watches Liz and Patty get themselves ready with Patty's pop music blaring in the background. She can't help but smile amusedly as they help each other pick out the optimal outfits to wear, voicing their opinions out loud, and pausing in the midst of applying their makeup to engage in impromptu karaoke. She does have to admit that getting ready together with her girlfriends is always fun, and it's not like she hasn't been out partying or drinking before at all. Maybe the rest of the night won't turn out so badly.

"Maka," Tsubaki gently asks, "Are you okay with this?" Maka turns back to the mirror and gasps at the figure staring back, looking similar to her but somehow a thousand times prettier.

Softly yet fiercely, she replies, "I love it," her eyes darting back up to her friend's so that she knows how much she means it. "Thank you, Tsubaki!"

Tsubaki smiles and unplugs the hair curler, but as she leans in to do so she says, "I don't just mean about the hair, Maka." She takes a second to adjust the curler carefully in her hands before continuing softly, "You seem a bit different recently. Are you okay?"

Maka pauses, trying to figure out the answer for herself. _Is_ she okay? She figures she is, aside from being anxious over her potential career progression, experiencing FOMO a few years late, and having the striking epiphany that she doesn't want Soul as just a best friend anymore.

"I'm fine!" she tries stating in her most confident tone with a flourishing smile to match. "I guess… I just got tired of sitting on the sidelines when these things happen," she admits. "And I suppose I should try it out at least once before I become anymore of a grandma." She chuckles weakly.

"Well, better to do things late than never." Tsubaki smiles back. "Although there's nothing wrong with doing them as a grandma either, you know."

The doorbell rings, and Patty shrieks at not being ready by the time the boys have arrived for their pre-drinking session. Maka offers to let them in on her behalf. As she opens the door, she can physically feel something in their gazes shift and she suddenly feels self-conscious about her short peplum skirt and low-cut shoulderless blouse.

"Damn Albarn, you look like you're ready to party like it's 3012 tonight." BlackStar nods in approval as he files past her into the apartment, beer case weighing down his arms, and yells something about Liz and Patty doing the Lord's work. Kid follows behind with his own bottle of hard liquor and silently nods as well, although he's probably more pleased about the symmetry and colour coordination of the outfit than how it actually looks on her.

Then before she knows it, she's face to face with Soul, and it's like her heart has run its own marathon. Despite doing this same ritual of opening the door and letting him in a hundred times before – albeit at another place, her own – things somehow feel different now.

Finally he speaks up. "This is for you," he says, handing her one of the bottles in his hand – she doesn't recognize the name, but the label looks fancy and it seems to be one of those light fruity drinks she enjoys. "You look really good, by the way," he quietly adds as she shuts the door.

"Thanks. You too." She smiles shyly – what is _happening_ to her? – and the bottle feels heavy yet somehow magical in her hands.

Despite the noise from the living room, the hallway near the door is around the corner and out of sight, out of mind, and Maka sort of wishes she could just stay here in this hidden niche forever with Soul. "Will you drink it with me?" she asks him conspiratorially.

"Eh, it's not really my kind of drink…" He rubs the back of his head sheepishly, but when she whines he sighs and acquiesces, causing her to laugh like a little girl. They sneak off to the kitchen – Kid and BlackStar have moved into the bedroom, to fix Liz and Patty's outfits and ogle Tsubaki, respectively – and she opens the bottle while he takes out two plastic cups.

"Maka." She stops in the midst of pouring the second cup as he says her name, and as her gaze flicks up automatically, she almost drops the bottle from being so close to him. She wonders if his eyes have always been so vividly red, or if they've always resembled the glowing embers of a blazing hot fire.

She realizes she wants to remain next to that fire and its warmth for a very long time.

"Maka?" She blinks and swears that Soul's eyes shine in the light. "Are you okay? Don't tell me you're getting nervous." He chuckles, but she can tell that his concern for her is serious. "We don't have to drink if you don't want t–"

"I want to," she says with resolve, now finished with pouring the second cup. "I want to drink a lot tonight," she adds matter of factly, punctuating the end of her statement with the _thud_ from putting the bottle down.

His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "Are you sure you want this?" he asks, and she nods. "You want to get drunk? For the first time ever?" he clarifies, and her head continues to bob up and down silently.

"Well then," Soul sighs after a moment, knowing how determined she can be when she sets her mind to it. "I don't know if this is such a good idea when it's also your first time clubbing. But if you want it… Then I'll back you up as your partner." He picks up his cup. "And no matter what happens, I'll take care of you and get you back home in one piece by the end of the night." He stares straight at her and grins, holding his cup out. "Cheers."

"Cheers," Maka echoes with a small smile, picking up her own cup. They hold their drinks up to each other, plastic brushing up against plastic, and although there's no _clink_ , it still sounds like a promise.

* * *

They play a few drinking games at home and eat some pizza (after all, getting drunk on an empty stomach is no good). By the time they leave the apartment to walk to Chupa Cabra's, Maka has drank three glasses of the magical juice Soul had given her in total – thanks to being ganged up on by Liz, BlackStar, and Patty during the games – and everyone is in a cheerful mood. Through Maka's eyes the world spins a little, in a good way.

They manage to bypass the line to get in since Liz knows the bouncers, and as soon as they enter, BlackStar is ordering another series of drinks for the group. "It's time for round two of shots!" he announces. "No exceptions! We're having a goddamn toast!"

Maka catches Soul glancing at her a little worryingly. Normally she shies away from hard liquor because of the awful taste – in fact when they had taken the first round of shots at home she had refused – but now with alcohol in her veins and those crimson red eyes tracing her every move, she is fearless. She gives him a comforting smile. Tonight she will break tradition.

Once the glasses have been distributed, BlackStar raises his drink high amidst the crowd and the noise surrounding them. "You guys are the best goddamn group of friends I've ever met, and I. Am so! Happy! That we're finally all together here tonight!" He finishes with a scream, "CHEERS TO US!"

"Cheers to us!" the group yells back, and they all throw back their heads and swallow at once.

Maka feels the burn in her throat and resists the urge to gag but before she can dwell on the taste any longer, Liz is taking her hand and pulling her onto the dance floor, with Patty and Tsubaki trailing behind. She soon loses herself in the rhythm with her friends and wonders why she had never gone clubbing earlier. Okay, the music is a little too loud and it's a little too dark, and she probably would be experiencing a sensory overload by now if she was sober–

Maka suddenly feels an arm slip around her waist and she wonders if it's Soul, but then she sees Liz in front of her shake her head and forcefully pull her from the person's grip, and as she's turned around so that Liz is now behind her, she sees that it's a stranger. She feels a surprising amount of disappointment and wonders where Soul is.

As Liz continues to hold her close to prevent other passersby from getting too grabby, Maka realizes that none of the boys are around and cranes her head around to see if she can spot Soul in the crowd. She catches BlackStar dancing his heart out up on the nearby stage (of course), and then as her gaze sweeps over the edge of the room, she pinpoints a familiar head of white hair leaning against a wall.

"Soul!" she yells, even though she immediately realizes it's futile because of the noise level. She's going to have to go to him. Detaching herself from Liz, she pushes her way through the crowd, albeit slowly because it seems like the shot is finally taking effect.

Her heart slowly sinks as the number of bodies thin out and her field of vision becomes clear. Two girls are dancing awfully close around him and even though he doesn't seem to be reacting, standing still with his hands in his pockets, she feels something familiar – like a mix of the warm alcohol and the unsettled feeling from when she'd first heard about Soul and his date with Kim – surge through her.

She wants to be one of those girls.

"Soul!" Maka screams again, although she quickly realizes this is also pointless because he's already looking straight at her. He pushes off the wall, brushing past the two girls as she runs straight to him. Before he can ask, she says, "Dance with me," maybe a little too desperately, but he follows without a word when she drags him towards the crowd, pins her back against him so they're both facing the same way, and pulls his hands around her waist.

Maka wonders if this is what being drunk is like. She can feel Soul's entire body moving against hers and leading it to the beat of the music, but it still seems too vivid and yet somehow unreal all at once, and she doesn't care what he must think of her in this moment. All she can think of is soft yet vibrantly glowing ember eyes, and the fact that she is finally standing next to the fire and it is as warm as she's always imagined it to be.

She wonders again why she'd never gone clubbing before now.

She wonders if Soul is drunk, too.

And when he finally turns her around again so that they're standing face to face, she breaks the last tradition binding their friendship together and kisses him.

* * *

She wakes up with light in her eyes and the feeling of death in her mouth.

Maka groans, snuggling deeper into her sheets. She thinks there might be a pounding in her head and that her pajamas feel oddly restrictive as she turns. As she shifts further, she realizes that they're not pajamas after all. It's her outfit from–

 _Last night._ The events of last night come crashing back like waves on a shore: toasting with Soul in the secrecy of the kitchen, laughing with him on the way to the club as the world took on a nice rosy hue, dancing up close and personal against him. Pulling him in, their lips meeting, more than once.

"Shit," she mumbles out loud, tossing the blanket over her head in an effort to bury herself from the world. "Shit shit SHIT," she yells. She has properly screwed up her friendship with Soul, forever. "UGH," she screams, her voice cracking at the end from the dryness of her throat.

"Jeez, could you be any louder?"

Maka throws off the blanket and _oh, crap,_ there he is standing in the doorway of her bedroom, shirtless, with his hair mussed and his eyes drooping with sleep. If she wasn't freaking out right now she would admit that he looks pretty cute, but as it is her panic manifests itself in her shriek of, "What are you _doing_ here?!"

"I wasn't actually looking for an answer to my question," Soul sighs, walking into the room. He places a glass of water on her nightstand. "Drink," he tells her, then, "Can I sit?" He gestures to the side of her bed and she nods, even though everything inside of her screams no.

She isn't ready to have this conversation, not right now, and maybe not ever.

"I hope you don't mind that I spent the night on your couch," he says, sounding sheepish as he sinks down to her eye level and she gulps the water appreciatively. "You were practically falling asleep when we left and it was getting really late. And I also wanted to make sure you didn't get sick in the middle of the night."

Maka feels even worse for yelling at him now. "I'm sorry," she murmurs, putting the glass back on the nightstand.

"S'fine," he shrugs, "I promised that I'd get you back home safe and sound by the end of the night, after all."

"No, not just for that." She tightly clutches the blankets and watches her hands fiddle with the soft fabric, her eyes afraid to meet his as she says the words that sound wrong even in her head. "I'm really sorry for everything I did last night. I was drunk–" sweet Death, they sound even worse when said aloud, but she forces herself to keep going even as her speech unconsciously quickens, trying to salvage whatever is left between them "–and I should have stopped earlier but I didn't, so can we just ignore everything that happened? Please?"

It feels like an eternity passes in silence. Maka risks a glance upwards and sees an unreadable expression on Soul's face. Finally he asks, "Is that what you really want?"

"Yes." She pauses, then blurts out, "No." She swears she sees something shifts in his eyes, like embers dancing above a flame. "What do _you_ want?" she slowly asks, feeling something aside from panic for the first time today.

Now it's his turn to look down. "You know, there's a saying that your drunk words are just your sober thoughts," he finally responds, looking back up at her. "I want to hear those sober thoughts. Tell me why you kissed me last night."

Her throat feels dry again despite the water she just drank, but she feels a little more empowered now by the fact that she has nothing left to lose. "I really like you, Soul," she says quietly, meeting his gaze head on. "You said before that the most important thing is whether the life we're living now is the life we want to live. And I didn't realize until recently, but I really like the life I'm living together with you." She pauses to collect herself, because this is the hardest part. "So even if you don't feel the same way, I–"

"Stop," he says suddenly, and before she can be afraid that she's said too much and offended him, he's tugging her towards him and his lips are warm on hers like they were last night. Except this time there's no "if", no adrenaline high running on the possibility of rejection, and somehow it feels even _better_ than it did the first time.

They slowly pull away from each other, as if they've found themselves in a new alternate reality that's too good to be true, before Soul eventually speaks again. "I do feel the same way," he admits. "I've felt that way since we practically first met, you know."

"I'm sorry," Maka mumbles, leaning back against the headboard. "I didn't know." She takes a second to process the fact that apparently Soul has wanted her as more than a best friend too, and long before the thought had ever occurred to her. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" she asks quietly, pulling him further onto the bed to lean against the headboard next to her.

"I was afraid," he confesses, shrugging. "I like the life I'm living together with you, too. And I didn't want to risk losing all of that because of some stupid one-sided crush." He sighs. "You mean too much for me to do that."

"It's not stupid, and in case you missed my memo, it's not one-sided either." She slowly rests her head on his shoulder, and his hand goes up to pat her hair, as if automatic. She smiles – despite doing this same ritual before, things somehow feel different now.

No, they _are_ different. In fact, she's pretty sure that they'll never be the same again.

She has just one final question. "But then what about you and Kim?" she hesitantly asks.

Soul turns towards her and says, "What I say next cannot leave this room, okay?" She nods, expecting the worst, but it still doesn't really prepare her for the answer that comes out of his mouth. "Kim has a girlfriend but she doesn't want anyone to know, and she needed a fake boyfriend to bring to dinner with her parents so they would get off her case." He sighs, and it finally feels like a weight has been fully lifted from her chest. "That's why no one was supposed to know. I'm going to kill BlackStar…" he mutters as an afterthought.

"I'll help you hide the body," Maka offers quickly, then yawns, "But first, can we please sleep in a little more…?" She lies down and pulls the covers up to her chin before he can protest.

Soul chuckles. "Only if you'll be my girlfriend," he replies teasingly, before following her lead and laying his head down next to hers.

She turns to face him and smiles. "Deal. But first you have to tell me… Five years ago, did you ever imagine that life would turn out like this, and we would end up together?" She's murmuring quietly now, as if they're trading deep dark secrets.

He pulls her close and kisses her forehead. "Only in my wildest dreams," he whispers back. "But trust me, if I thought I'd had more of a chance, I would have confessed earlier."

Maka hums thoughtfully. Part of her still wants to give him a hard chop for not saying anything about his feelings until now, and the other part of her wants to kick herself for not realizing her own earlier, but she does neither. Instead, she closes her eyes and looks forward to the new life they'll face together when they wake up. Better to do things late than never, after all.


End file.
